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]]>http://health4everyday.com/2020/06/major-hydroxychloroquine-trial-for-covid-19-treatment-halted-britain-world-news-wion/feed/018211http://health4everyday.com/2020/06/major-hydroxychloroquine-trial-for-covid-19-treatment-halted-britain-world-news-wion/Demonstrators say it’s worth braving coronavirus to protest George Floyd’s killing – CNNhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Health4Everyday/~3/CgOSJZXhAN4/
http://health4everyday.com/2020/06/demonstrators-say-its-worth-braving-coronavirus-to-protest-george-floyds-killing-cnn/#respondSun, 07 Jun 2020 06:58:56 +0000https://health4everyday.com/2020/06/demonstrators-say-its-worth-braving-coronavirus-to-protest-george-floyds-killing-cnn/(CNN)Jazondre Gibbs was up early Saturday morning, packing her car and driving with her mom into the center of Washington, DC. She wanted to be there in time to park and set up a table loaded with ba…
]]>http://health4everyday.com/2020/06/demonstrators-say-its-worth-braving-coronavirus-to-protest-george-floyds-killing-cnn/feed/018213http://health4everyday.com/2020/06/demonstrators-say-its-worth-braving-coronavirus-to-protest-george-floyds-killing-cnn/Denton, Collin Counties Add a Combined 36 Cases of COVID-19 – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worthhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Health4Everyday/~3/_uKY9aeGXrU/
http://health4everyday.com/2020/06/denton-collin-counties-add-a-combined-36-cases-of-covid-19-nbc-5-dallas-fort-worth/#respondSun, 07 Jun 2020 04:58:55 +0000https://health4everyday.com/2020/06/denton-collin-counties-add-a-combined-36-cases-of-covid-19-nbc-5-dallas-fort-worth/

County and state officials Saturday reported a combined 36 new cases of COVID-19 in Denton and Collin counties.

Denton County Public Health reported 19 new cases, raising the countywide total to 1,486. Two of the new cases were reported at the Denton State Supported Living Center, which has seen eight additional COVID-19 cases since May 30, after holding its count to 55 for more than two weeks.

Officials have reported 704 recoveries from the coronavirus in Denton County.

Coronavirus Pandemic

Full coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak and how it impacts you

The Texas Department of State Health Services, which has taken over reporting Collin County data, reported 17 new cases in the county, bringing the total to 1,447. There have been 1,023 recoveries from the coronavirus in Collin County.

In addition to the DSSLC, Denton County’s new cases were reported in Carrollton, The Colony, Denton, Fort Worth, Frisco, Lake Dallas, Little Elm and Prosper.

Collin County has stopped reporting cases on a city-by-city basis, instead relying on the overall county numbers reported by the Texas Department of State Health Services.

With more large anti-police brutality protests planned in the area this weekend, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s West Hollywood station is reminding the public that several streets have been closed off to vehicle traffic.

“The West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station has asked the City of West Hollywood to, once again, place large metal bins at certain major intersections as part of temporary street closures,” sheriff’s officials said. “The bins are positioned to allow 10 feet of emergency-lane clearance and serve as barriers to protect people and property.”

“These barriers help our Sheriff’s personnel to more effectively safeguard groups of people who may gather in the city of West Hollywood to exercise their first amendment rights for peaceful assembly and protest. Additionally, the bins help protect local businesses from potential burglary and vandalism. Local access streets remain open and accessible,” the statement continued.

ASHEVILLE – As of noon June 6, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services tallied 34,625 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 statewide. That’s an increase of 1,370 from the previous day

That number differs slightly from the Johns Hopkins University report in the graphic above.

NCDHHS counts a total of 992 deaths associated with lab-tested COVID-19 statewide, with 708 hospitalized across the state.

As of about noon June 6, Buncombe County reported 384 total cases and 33 deaths.

Most of Buncombe’s deaths continue to be in nursing homes.

Confirmed cases in other Western North Carolina counties, according to state counts:

Avery: 3 case, 0 deaths.

Cherokee: 21 cases, 1 death.

Clay: 5 cases, 0 deaths.

Graham: 4 cases, 0 deaths.

Haywood: 59 cases, 0 deaths.

Henderson: 368 cases, 47 deaths.

Jackson: 44 cases, 1 death.

Macon: 120 cases, 1 death.

Madison: 3 cases, 0 deaths.

McDowell: 95 cases, 1 death.

Mitchell: 14 cases, 0 deaths.

Polk: 47 cases, 4 deaths.

Swain: 25 cases, 0 deaths.

Transylvania: 16 cases, 1 deaths.

Watauga: 38 cases, 0 deaths.

Yancey: 21 cases, 0 deaths.

The Citizen Times is providing this story for free to readers because of the need for information about the coronavirus. We encourage you to further support local journalism by subscribing.

Takeaways from Buncombe briefing

As interim health director Dr. Jennifer Mullendore spoke June 4 about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Buncombe County, she asked the community to “keep working together” to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Mackenzie Wicker reports on five key points made by Mullendore during the briefing, including the disproportional impact of the virus on black, indigenous and people of color; a drive to have widespread testing at long-term care facilities; the pandemics impact on emotional and mental health; and more.

2 Asheville firefighters test positive

Two Asheville firefighters tested positive for COVID-19 this past week, causing a 12-hour closure for cleaning of the fire stations and trucks, and sending into quarantine firefighters who had come into close contact with those infected, according to fire officials.

Karen Chávez reports that while Asheville Fire Department spokeswoman Kelley Klope said measures are being taken to protect the roughly 280 firefighters from contracting the deadly disease, some firefighters say the department is not doing enough and is not following state guidelines to protect firefighters, who are already risking their lives daily to protect the public.

Drive-thru testing in Madison County

A drive-thru testing event in the Spring Creek community of Madison County screened 50 individuals for COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

Paul Moon reports that the free testing event open to anyone, including non-Madison County residents and those showing no symptoms, was the first offered by the Madison County Health Department since the onset of the pandemic.

A second free and open screening event is scheduled for Thursday, June 11 from 6-8 p.m. outside Hot Springs Elementary School.

Answer Man looks into masks at the Ingles distribution center

Question: Ignoring obvious safety issues regarding inhibited breathing and impaired vision, how can Ingles supply employees with a single mask and force them to wear it in a warehouse environment for an entire shift, while the Centers for Disease Control recommends a new mask every time a face-covering becomes wet or soiled?

Answer: “Ingles has taken the initiative to both require and provide face masks for all associates,” said Ron Freeman, Ingles Markets chief financial officer. “We also maintain a supply of face masks at our distribution center should an associate arrive at work without a mask or soil a mask while working.”

Read or Share this story: https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2020/06/06/coronavirus-what-you-need-know-asheville-wnc-june-6/3162875001/

]]>http://health4everyday.com/2020/06/coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know-in-asheville-wnc-june-6-citizen-times/feed/018197http://health4everyday.com/2020/06/coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know-in-asheville-wnc-june-6-citizen-times/Oil Up the Clippers and Bust Out the Mousse: Certified Hair Salons and Barber Shops to Open on Monday, June 8 – Lost Coast Outposthttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Health4Everyday/~3/zLSdTcL33x4/
http://health4everyday.com/2020/06/oil-up-the-clippers-and-bust-out-the-mousse-certified-hair-salons-and-barber-shops-to-open-on-monday-june-8-lost-coast-outpost/#respondSun, 07 Jun 2020 00:59:05 +0000https://health4everyday.com/2020/06/oil-up-the-clippers-and-bust-out-the-mousse-certified-hair-salons-and-barber-shops-to-open-on-monday-june-8-lost-coast-outpost/

Oil Up the Clippers and Bust Out the Mousse: Certified Hair Salons and Barber Shops to Open on Monday, June 8

A press release from the Humboldt County Joint Information Center:

Hair salons and barber shops whose plans have been approved and certified by the Humboldt County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) can start reopening Monday, June 8.

The decision came today after review of daily testing results and local epidemiologic data. Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Teresa Frankovich said, “Our doubling time has increased, our percent increase in cases over the past week has dropped, we have had only two new chains of transmission in the past 14 days, and other epidemiologic factors look favorable.”

The doctor added that the local health care system and contact investigation teams also have capacity. “Monday marks 14 days out from Memorial Day activities,” Dr. Frankovich said, referring to the standard incubation period for the virus. “In light of these factors, we have decided to move forward on salons and barber shops a bit sooner than planned.”

Public Health will continue to closely monitor the amount of disease activity in the community as businesses and other entities gradually reopen, she said.

“There are still concerns about the possible impacts of the recent protest gatherings which began a week ago and are ongoing, but because of our favorable data, we are planning to move forward while carefully monitoring the situation,” Dr. Frankovich said. “Again, our ability to continue this social and economic recovery is dependent upon our community working together on using facial coverings, distancing and following all of the public health guidance we have been advising.”

Certificates will be sent today to all hair salons and barber shops with approved plans. Because many facilities do not plan to reopen right away, please call ahead before going to your favorite location.If conditions remain favorable, additional county-certified businesses in the following sectors are expected to be cleared for reopening in this order:

Campgrounds, including RV parks – Reopening date expected to be announced next week with a reopening anticipated before the weekend.

Hotels and lodging for leisure travel/tourism – after June 12

Gyms – after June 12.

Dr. Frankovich said she still highly encourages older residents and those with chronic medical conditions to limit their activities outside the home to minimize possible exposures. “It is the safest course moving forward,” she said.

A different kinds of analgesic —

Made-up swears like “fouch” or “twizpipe” just don’t have the same effect.

There have been a surprising number of studies in recent years examining the effects of swearing, specifically whether it can help relieve pain—either physical or psychological (as in the case of traumatic memories or events). According to the latest such study, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, constantly repeating the F-word—as one might do if one hit one’s thumb with a hammer—can increase one’s pain threshold.

The technical term is the “hypoalgesic effect of swearing,” best illustrated by a 2009 study in NeuroReport by researchers at Keele University in the UK. The work was awarded the 2010 Ig Nobel Peace Prize, “for confirming the widely held belief that swearing relieves pain.” Co-author Richard Stephens, a psychologist at Keele, became interested in studying the topic after noting his wife’s “unsavory language” while giving birth, and wondered if profanity really could help alleviate pain. “Swearing is such a common response to pain. There has to be an underlying reason why we do it,” Stephens told Scientific American at the time.

For that 2009 study, Stephens and his colleagues asked 67 study participants (college students) to immerse their hands in a bucket of ice water. They were then instructed to either swear repeatedly using the profanity of their choice, or chant a neutral word. Lo and behold, the participants said they experienced less pain when they swore, and were also able to leave their hands in the bucket about 40 seconds longer than when they weren’t swearing. It’s been suggested (by Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, among others) that it is a primitive reflex that serves as a form of catharsis.

“We have quite good data on the mechanism being that swearing brings out an emotional response in the speaker, which activates the autonomic nerves system, or acute structure response,” Stephens told Ars. “It’s linked to flight or fight.” In other words, swearing in response to pain can activate the amygdala, which can trigger that flight-or-fight response, producing a surge of adrenalin.

The team followed up with a 2011 study showing that the pain relief effect works best for subjects who typically don’t swear that often, perhaps because they attach a higher emotional value to swears. They also found that subjects’ heart rates increased when they swore. “So we think the mechanism is stress-induced,” said Stephens. “It’s the emotional content of the swearing that people are accessing when they swear in pain.”

But it might not be the only underlying mechanism. Other researchers have pointed out that profanity might be distracting, thereby taking one’s mind off the pain, rather than serving as an actual analgesic. Stephens et al. set out to explore the question further in their latest study. They were actually approached by an Australian company called Nurofen that sells ibuprofen products for pain relief. The company was interested in sponsoring a scientific study on pain relief and swearing (having no doubt seen the team’s prior findings).

Fouch or twizpipe?

The company’s ad agency generated 60 candidate words they felt might be possible fake swears, and Stephens and a panel of language experts took over from there, winnowing that list down to two: “fouch” and “twizpipe.” The first was chosen because it had “emotional impact,” per Stephens, while the latter was chosen because “it had the potential to be distracting through humor.” The team then followed the same methodology as with their 2009 study, recruiting college students to place their hands in buckets of ice water and then repeating one of the candidate words: the F-word, fouch, twizpipe, and a neutral word (an adjective describing a table) as a control condition. As before, they also monitored heart rates.

The result: “Only the traditional swear word (the F-word) had any effect on pain outcomes,” said Stephens. They also measured the subjects’ pain threshold, asking them to indicate when the ice water began to feel painful. Those who chanted the F-word waited longer before indicating they felt pain—in other words, the swearing increased their threshold for pain.

“Only the traditional swear word (the F-word) had any effect on pain outcomes.”

Chanting “fouch” or “twizpipe” had no effect on either measure. Follow-up studies will likely focus on conventional swearing, since “there’s no suggestion from these data that distraction, or how the word sounds, is a reason why swearing helps people cope with pain,” said Stephens. “It seems like it’s the meaning of the word—probably the way we learn the word growing up, and the associations between these words and stress, or emotion. That’s probably what underlies the power of swearing.”

One intriguing finding is that saying the F-word did not have any effect on heart rate this time, unlike the group’s prior studies, which is also at odds with studies from other labs that also showed an autonomic nervous system response in heart rates. “But that’s science,” said Stephens. “The world’s a messy place, and not everything goes according to plan all the time.”

Stephens and his colleagues are already moving ahead with new experiments, this time shifting away from the autonomic arousal explanation for the effect to focus more on cognitive explanations—specifically looking at swearing as a possible form of disinhibition. “Usually disinhibition is a bad thing, where someone is unable to function in society because they’re disinhibited and act inappropriately,” he said.

However, there are a handful of scientific papers investigating whether disinhibition could improve performance—particularly a 2014 paper that found the tennis players who grunted while serving the ball produced faster serves than those who didn’t grunt. Stephens et al.’s current research will build on that, as well as their own 2018 paper showing that swearing can improve strength. “I think there may be a cognitive explanation that swearing is able to produce disinhibition,” he said. “And in some situations, disinhibition lets you just go for it that little bit more and not hold back.”

]]>http://health4everyday.com/2020/06/the-f-words-hidden-superpower-repeating-it-can-increase-your-pain-threshold-ars-technica/feed/018201http://health4everyday.com/2020/06/the-f-words-hidden-superpower-repeating-it-can-increase-your-pain-threshold-ars-technica/Coronavirus Live Updates: New Cases Are Increasing in U.S. – The New York Timeshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Health4Everyday/~3/0-W86CVE_M4/
http://health4everyday.com/2020/06/coronavirus-live-updates-new-cases-are-increasing-in-u-s-the-new-york-times/#respondSat, 06 Jun 2020 22:58:58 +0000https://health4everyday.com/2020/06/coronavirus-live-updates-new-cases-are-increasing-in-u-s-the-new-york-times/

A New York Times analysis shows why some areas of the United States see reopening as long overdue. The daily death toll in New York falls again.

Right Now

Brazil, claiming without evidence that states are reporting an inflated number of cases, has removed coronavirus data from a Health Ministry website.

States face different challenges in controlling the spread of the virus.

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A group at the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Conn., in May. As states move ahead with reopening plans, they may face different futures based on factors like how stressed their health care systems have been.Credit…Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times

With states beginning to allow varying degrees of economic reopening, large protests against police brutality being held in dozens of cities and warmer weather inviting people outside, forecasters tracking the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States are approaching a difficult juncture.

While the portrait of the country overall has improved significantly in recent weeks, epidemiologists have cautioned that different states are likely to experience very different challenges now in measuring and controlling the virus’s spread.

According to data compiled by The New York Times, more than a third of states are still seeing new infections increasing. But as many of them move ahead with reopening plans, their outcomes may depend on factors like how stressed their health care systems have been and how far they are along the curve.

In some relatively large states such as North Carolina and Arizona, increased testing suggests that infections are still climbing quickly and may spike further as more people venture out.

In another group are states that have achieved modest declines in new cases, but where the sheer number of people already infected remains the main source of concern. Even as states such as Maryland or Connecticut have seen small declines in new infections, both still have alarmingly high counts per capita, which have taxed health care systems for weeks.

The fear for states in the second category is that with scores of people already infected, recent declines could be quickly erased through increased social contact in the months ahead, threatening health care systems anew.

Economic roundup

Some parts of the United States face financial ruin but few infections.

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The first night the restaurant Bin707 was opened in Grand Junction, Colo., on Monday.Credit…Benjamin Rasmussen for The New York Times

In Corpus Christi, the oil and gas and vacation town on the southeastern coast of Texas, it can be tough to find people who have experienced the coronavirus’s devastation, or even know someone who has. But people hit with job losses or business closures? They are everywhere.

Theresa Thompson has been furloughed from her position as a catering and events manager at a Holiday Inn. Richard Lomax has seen sales fall by more than 90 percent at the two restaurants his family owns. Brett Oetting, chief executive of the tourism office, has been working with countless businesses struggling to navigate the economic collapse.

None of them knows anyone local who has been sickened by the virus.

In corners of the United States facing financial ruin, but where the coronavirus hasn’t arrived in full, a New York Times analysis of economic and infection data helps explain why some see reopening as long overdue. The sharp disconnect between extreme economic pain and limited health impact presents local officials and businesses with difficult choices, even after Friday’s encouraging jobs report suggested more of the country was returning to work.

“In the first two weeks when they said this was coming, I was like, ‘Let’s all stay in, hunker down, and if we all do this, that can help while we figure out what is going on,’” said Stephanie Anderson, a real estate agent in Satellite Beach, Fla.

But since “places here aren’t producing mass death,” she said, “don’t tell me I can’t open my business in a responsible manner.”

Some business owners and workers in these communities have embraced reopening because of their firsthand experiences. Many are angry or confused. Others plead for caution. But most agree the virus has not posed the local public health threat that so many were expecting — even while acknowledging that things could get worse and the numbers would most likely already be higher with more testing.

Here are some other recent developments on the economic impact of the pandemic:

African-Americans and Latinos are especially vulnerable to job losses in the pandemic and at a disadvantage in getting government support.

Brazil has removed coronavirus data from a Health Ministry website.

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Grave diggers burying a coronavirus victim at the Vila Formosa cemetery in São Paulo in May.Credit…Victor Moriyama for The New York Times

Brazil’s government on Friday removed comprehensive numbers on coronavirus cases and deaths from the Health Ministry’s website, claiming without offering evidence that state officials had been reporting inflated figures to secure more federal funding.

Carlos Wizard, a businessman recently appointed by President Jair Bolsonaro to a top job inthe ministry, told the O Globo newspaper on Friday that the government suspects state officials have been including deaths from other causes in the coronavirus tallies they report to the federal government.

“Local officials, driven purely by a desire to get more funding for their cities, labeled everyone as Covid,” Wizard said. “We’re reviewing those deaths.”

The accusation outraged public health experts. Several noted that Brazil has a sophisticated health surveillance system and that there is a broad consensus among epidemiologists that a lack of testing worldwide has resulted in a gross undercount of deaths from Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Mr. Bolsonaro has come under withering criticism at home and abroad for his cavalier handling of the pandemic. He has sabotaged quarantine guidelines issued at the state level, calling them ruinous for economic growth. On Friday, he threatened to pull Brazil out of the World Health Organization, which has urged countries with increasing outbreaks to adopt social distancing guidelines.

As of Saturday, Brazil had more than 650,000 confirmed cases, second only to the United States, and more than 35,000 deaths. In recent days, Brazil has led the world in the number of new deaths reported each day.

The National Council of Health Secretaries, which represents municipal health officials, called Mr. Wizard’s accusation outrageous.

“This authoritarian, insensitive, inhumane and unethical attempt to erase people who have died from Covid-19 will fail,” the council said. “We are not mercenaries of death.”

As the country’s caseload exploded in recent weeks, Mr. Bolsonaro fired his health minister and replaced him with a doctor who lasted less than a month on the job.

Since mid-May, the health ministry has been led by an active duty general with no medical experience, and military officers have stepped into several top jobs as career health officials resigned.

Huge crowds turn out around the world to protest racism, and experts fear a coronavirus spike.

In Australia, huge crowds turned out in Sydney, Melbourne and many other communities in support of the Black Lives Matter movement calling for an end to systemic racism and Aboriginal deaths in police custody.

The health minister in Britain urged residents not to gather for demonstrations in London, Manchester and Birmingham. But large crowds appeared — despite the cold weather, the rain and warnings by the police that mass gatherings would violate the rule that only six people from different households could gather outside during the pandemic.

In Paris, the authorities barred people from gathering in front of the United States Embassy, but thousands protested there anyway in the late afternoon, as well as near the Eiffel Tower, echoing a protest earlier this week that drew nearly 20,000 people in memory of Adama Traoré, a Frenchman who died in police custody in 2016.

And in the German cities of Berlin and Cologne, thousands responded to social media calls to take to the streets to honor Mr. Floyd. The protests came after a week of demonstrations in cities like Hamburg and Frankfurt.

Fury against racism and police brutality has also brought crowds into the streets of Belgium, Canada, Sweden and Zimbabwe. In other parts of the world:

Art Basel, the centerpiece of the European art market calendar, is canceled. The 50th anniversary edition of the event in Basel, Switzerland, was to feature more than 250 international galleries and had already been postponed.

Saudi Arabia reimposed a curfew in the Red Sea city of Jeddah from 3 p.m. to 6 a.m. for two weeks starting on Saturday, halted prayers in the city’s mosques and suspended work in offices because of a rise in the spread of the coronavirus, the state news agency SPA reported.

Russia on Saturday reported 8,855 new cases of the coronavirus, pushing the total number of infections to 458,689, and 197 deaths in the past 24 hours. The nationwide death toll has reached 5,725.

In New York, a ‘big sigh of relief’ as the daily death toll falls to 35.

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A sign hanging in Brooklyn. The city will start to reopen Monday, allowing retail stores to offer curbside or in-store pickup.Credit…Hilary Swift for The New York Times

The weekend ahead of New York City’s start of gradual reopening Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo reported 35 new coronavirus deaths statewide, a drop of seven from the day before and the lowest daily total in the last two months.

“This is really, really good news compared to where we were,” Mr. Cuomo said Saturday during his daily briefing in Albany. “This is a big sigh of relief.”

Under Phase 1 of reopening, set to begin Monday, retail stores will be allowed to open for curbside or in-store pickup, and nonessential construction and manufacturing can resume, returning as many as 400,000 people to the work force.

“You want to talk about a turnaround — this one, my friends, is going to go in the history books,” Mr. Cuomo said. “There is no state in the United States that has gone from where we were to where we are.”

Mr. Cuomo also announced he was expanding the occupancy guidelines for houses of worship, which could now admit up to 25 percent of the building’s occupancy. It is unclear if the measure applies statewide or only in locations that have reached Phase 2. All regions of the state except New York City are in the first or second phase of reopening.

Across the Hudson River, Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey announced 60 new virus-related deaths Saturday via social media, bringing the state’s toll to 12,106. The figure was a drop from the 79 new deaths reported the previous day. He also reported 606 new confirmed positive cases, totaling 163,893 cases in the state.

While New York City’s shutdown has successfully flattened the number of infections, a study has found that the economic cost could have been reduced by a third or more by strategically choosing neighborhoods to close, calibrating the risk of infection for local residents and workers with the impact on local jobs.

Japan’s embrace of face masks may be the secret to its virus-fighting success.

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Shoppers in Tokyo last month. Face masks were a common sight in the city long before the coronavirus arrived.Credit…Noriko Hayashi for The New York Times

When the coronavirus arrived in Japan, people did what they normally do: They put on masks.

Face coverings are nothing new there. During flu and hay fever seasons, trains are crowded with commuters half-hidden behind white surgical masks. Employees with colds, worried about the stigma of missing work, throw one on and soldier into the office.

“Japan, I think a lot of people agree, kind of did everything wrong, with poor social distancing, karaoke bars still open and public transit packed near the zone where the worst outbreaks were happening,” Jeremy Howard, a researcher at the University of San Francisco who has studied the use of masks, said of the country’s early response. “But the one thing that Japan did right was masks.”

During the pandemic, scientists have found a correlation between high levels of mask-wearing — whether as a matter of culture or policy — and success in containing the virus.

“I think there is definitely evidence coming out of Covid that Japan, as well as other countries which practice mask-wearing, tend to do much better in flattening the curve,” said Akiko Iwasaki, a professor of immunobiology at Yale.

The economy won’t be easily healed. Denying that reality won’t help fix it.

For the first time in three months there is a scent of economic optimism in the air. Employers added millions of jobs to their payrolls in May, and the jobless rate fell, a big surprise to forecasters who expected further losses. Businesses are reopening, and the rate of coronavirus deaths has edged down. The Trump administration has begun pointing to what are likely to be impressive growth numbers as the economy starts to pull out of its deep hole.

All of that is good news. But there are clear signs that the collapse of economic activity has set in motion problems that will play out over many months, or maybe many years. If not contained, they could cause human misery on a mass scale and create lasting scars for families.

The fabric of the economy has been ripped, with damage done to millions of interconnections — between workers and employers, companies and their suppliers, borrowers and lenders. Both the historical evidence from severe economic crises and the data available today point to enormous delayed effects.

While the government can’t wave a wand and bring back industries that are semi-permanently shuttered, it can act — and has acted — to try to keep demand for goods and services at pre-crisis levels. That, in turn, can smooth the path for other sectors to grow so that there is not a prolonged depression of jobs, income and investment, with a resulting reduction in the economy’s long-term potential.

In the U.K., Prince William volunteers to help amid coronavirus lockdown.

Prince William counts as one among thousands of British volunteers assisting on a crisis helpline during the coronavirus lockdown, Kensington Palace announced in a message marking the end of Volunteers’ Week.

“I’m going to share a little secret with you guys, but I’m actually on the platform volunteering,” Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, said during a video call in which he and his wife, Catherine Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, thanked volunteers for their work.

In a statement, Kensington Palace said the Duke has been volunteering for Shout85258, the country’s first 24/7 crisis text line, which the couple launched in 2019 with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

“The Duke is one of more than 2000 Crisis Volunteers who are trained to support anyone, anytime, whatever their crisis may be,” the palace said. “Last month, the Duke and Duchess marked the service’s first anniversary by speaking to five Shout volunteers via video call.”

More than 300,000 text conversations have taken place between volunteers and people needing mental health support, The Associated Press reported. More than half of the people texting are under 25 years of age.

Study finds some rays of optimism for women considering pregnancy.

How the coronavirus might affect pregnant women and newborns has been a major concern since the outbreaks began. A new report in the medical journal JAMA has both reassuring and worrisome findings, with caveats that there is limited data and still much unknown.

So far, compared to the general population, pregnant women do not seem to have an increased risk of severe illness if they contract the virus, the report said. Of 147 pregnant women with Covid-19 in China, 8 percent had severe disease and 1 percent had critical illness — rates that were actually lower than those in the rest of the population, where 14 percent had severe disease and 6 percent were critically ill. In New York City, a report on 43 pregnant women with Covid-19 found that their rates of severe disease were similar to those in other adults.

But whether the infection can cause birth defects, miscarriage, premature birth or stillbirth is not yet known. Newborns have become infected, but it’s not clear whether they contracted the virus before, during or after birth, or if breastfeeding can transmit the virus.

Even so, the report says that for women who are wondering whether this is a safe time to conceive, “based on limited data, there does not seem to be a compelling reason to recommend delaying pregnancy.”

Europe has lost some of the last witnesses to its grim history.

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On Italy’s Liberation Day in April, residents of Milan placed flowers in memory of the partisans who died during World War II. The ranks of those who remember the war have been diminished by the coronavirus.Credit…Alessandro Grassani for The New York Times

For years, Gildo Negri visited schools to share his stories about blowing up bridges and cutting electrical wires to sabotage Nazis and fascists during World War II. In January, the 89-year-old made another visit, leaving his nursing home outside Milan to help students plant trees in honor of Italians deported to concentration camps.

But at the end of February, as Europe’s first outbreak of the coronavirus spread through Mr. Negri’s nursing home, it fatally infected him, too.

The virus, which is so lethal to the old, has hastened the departure of these last witnesses and forced the cancellation of commemorations. It has also created an opportunity for rising political forces who seek to recast the history of the last century in order to play a greater role in remaking the present one.

Throughout Europe, radical right-wing parties with histories of Holocaust denial, Mussolini infatuation and fascist motifs have gained traction in recent years.

More Americans use home aides than nursing homes, but the sector has been ‘forgotten’ in the pandemic.

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Jennifer Washington, a home health care aide who juggles multiple clients in Oakland, Calif.Credit…Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Much of the attention to the toll Covid-19 has taken on older adults has rightly focused on long-term care facilities. Their residents and employees account for almost 40 percent of the nation’s deaths, according to an updated New York Times analysis.

But far more Americans — nearly six million, by one estimate — rely on paid home care than live-in nursing homes and assisted living combined. And both workers and clients have cause for worry.

Even more than nursing home employees, home care workers are poorly paid hourly workers and often lack health insurance; half rely on some form of public assistance. Not only do many home care workers serve several clients each week, but to piece together a living they may simultaneously work for several agencies or for nursing homes, or hold outside jobs.

Those conditions increase infection risks, and not only for their frail older clients. Almost a third of home care workers, a heavily female work force, are themselves over 55, and most are black or Hispanic, groups that have proved particularly vulnerable to Covid-19.

Personal protective equipment, or P.P.E., has proved hard to acquire, however. With hospitals and nursing homes scrambling for supplies, “this was the forgotten sector,” said Dr. Nathan Stall, a geriatrician at the University of Toronto.

“Home care workers are probably unknowingly involved in the transmission of Covid-19, especially when they’re not equipped with sufficient P.P.E.,” he added.

How to stay safe as life restarts.

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A line practicing social distancing at a Whole Foods in Detroit in May.Credit…Brittany Greeson for The New York Times

When the country was under lockdown, at least the rules were mostly clear. Essential workers ventured out; everyone else sheltered in.

Now states are lifting restrictions, but detailed guidance about navigating the minutiae of everyday life is still hard to come by — and anyway, there’s never going to be a ready solution to every problematic circumstance you may encounter.

As you tiptoe toward normalization — whatever that is, given these times — try to follow three precautions: avoid contact, confinement and crowds. And make realistic choices.

Contact

You need to continue with social distancing precautions. That means wearing masks, washing hands well and often, and keeping a six-foot distance from one another. No hugs, no handshakes.

Any 15-minute face-to-face conversation between people who are within six feet of one another constitutes close contact, said Dr. Muge Cevik, an expert on infectious diseases and virology at University of Saint Andrews School of Medicine in Scotland.

Confinement

Indoor activities in confined enclosed spaces, even large ones, are more conducive to spreading the virus than events held outside, especially if the air inside the building is being recirculated or the windows don’t open.

Crowds

Large groups are risky, even outdoors. They mean more people, more contacts — and more potential sources of infection.

But young healthy adults and children should also consider the protection of people around them, including family members, colleagues or friends who are vulnerable, said Dr. Barbara Taylor, an infectious disease specialist at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.